The irrational mind of Catholic militant Mary Kenny

The World Atheist Convention took place in Dublin on June 3-5 last. By all accounts, it was a very successful affair.

Predictably, however, not everybody was happy to see so many atheists gather in ‘Catholic’ Ireland.

Catholic militant, Mary Kenny, writing in the Irish Catholic, makes the ridiculous claim that atheism is nothing more than an offshoot of Communism.

People of this cast of mind have been around for a long time. The only real difference between now and 50 or 80 years ago is that they have changed their category. They used to be called, and to call themselves, communists.

Her article, reproduced below, is a good example of the damaging power of religion to convince humans that the irrational is rational.

Atheisim is just another `Ism’

Mary Kenny

9 Jun 2011

It is a measure of how much Ireland has changed from its traditional image that Dublin could be the location for an international conference of atheists, as it was last weekend. And that the gathering passed uncontroversially.

I’m all for tolerance of everyone’s viewpoint, providing it is not a threat to public safety, so if the atheists’ pow-wow passed off almost unremarked, so what?

It is claimed that atheism in Ireland is growing, and that some 250,000 people are now Irish atheists, although some in that group call themselves agnostics, some humanists, some secularists. So there is a fuzzing of the definition.

An atheist is someone who says there is no Deity and no supernatural life whatsoever: there is only the material world. An atheist dismisses Shakespeare’s view that ”there are more things in Heaven and Earth than you can dream of” and usually regards human beings as merely cleverer animals than, say, apes.

An agnostic is humbler. The agnostic says he doesn’t know and does not venture to suggest he has the answers to the mysteries of the universe.

A humanist believes in humanity, but a humanist may also believe in God: humanism grew out of Christianity. A secularist is someone who calls for a non-religious state: but a secularist may have a private faith. So there are many strands in this apparently new phenomenon in Ireland.

But is this movement really new? People of this cast of mind have been around for a long time. The only real difference between now and 50 or 80 years ago is that they have changed their category. They used to be called, and to call themselves, communists.

The Communist Party and its many splinters in Trotskyism, Maoism, various international movements for ‘Peace and Progress’ – formerly a cover for Communism – encompassed a range of secularist thinkers. Communism was about many things, but it was, above all, about godlessness.

To be sure, some good people, and some well-intentioned people were Communists. And not all Communist concepts were unworthy:

Communism often promoted education, and even ideals of ”virtue” among the young. However, its fundamental value was rooted in atheism.
Then communism was seen to fail, and it duly fell. And when it fell it left an ideological vacuum in its place. Some former Marxists embraced capitalism, even with gusto.

Others turned to the new religion of environmentalism, in which everything green and associated with nature was to be sacralised (even though Marxism itself was in favour of industrialisation and most definitely against Nature: Marx would have regarded tree-hugging as ‘rural idiocy’). And others still turned to atheism in its various forms, whether it be called secularism, humanism or even ‘new ethics’.

The vacuum left by the world-wide ideology of communism remains the principle mainspring. People look for new ‘isms’ where old ones fail.
But usually the new isms, in their turn, are found wanting, and in the fullness of time faith is reborn in the hearts of men and women, as St Augustine predicted it always would. All you have to do is to live long enough to see the wheel complete its eternal return.

Brendan Keenan: A disturbingly ignorant journalist

During a discussion on nepotism and cronyism Irish Independent economics editor, Brendan Keenan made the following comment:

We have certainly seen in Britain an appalling decline of standards in Parliament and I think we’ve seen some signs of that spreading over here.

It’s difficult to know where to start analysing such a disturbingly ignorant statement.

It seems that Keenan labours under the illusion that, apart from some contamination from the UK, Ireland is a fully functional, democratically accountable state where politicians seldom, if ever, engage in corrupt practices.

First, let me give a broad outline of what happened in the UK when the expenses scandal broke.

There was genuine and widespread anger throughout the land including among the body politic. Politicians were ruthlessly challenged on the matter by a professional and well informed media. Some MPs were even physically attacked by their constituents such was the anger at this theft of public funds.

The police were involved from the very beginning and ultimately succeeded in sending a number of politicians to jail. At least a third of MPs were either sacked or forced to resign and the Government introduced tough new legislation as a result of the scandal.

The theft of taxpayer’s money by Irish politicians is rampant and has been for decades, the practice is an integral and long accepted aspect of the corrupt political system.

The majority of Irish citizens have no problem with such practices so long as their local gombeen representative continues to dispense petty favours.

The police never, ever act against such corruption. The Ivor Callely scandal is a case in point. When a formal complaint was made against Callely the Garda Commissioner, the highest ranking policeman in the state, effectively put the investigation on hold because he was waiting for ‘more clarification’ from a lowly civil servant.

To my knowledge he’s still waiting.

The media, for the most part, are ineffective in challenging the corrupt politicians through a combination of grovelling subservience and/or low journalistic standards.

To be precise here, the Irish media are good at uncovering corruption and even at asking the right questions but almost never stay the course in demanding answers.

Irish politicians have long ago copped on to this and so respond by just throwing out the first excuse/lie that comes to mind and it’s off to the next scandal.

New legislation in response to political corruption never seems to be actually fit for purpose. This, of course, is no accident.

The recent ‘reform’ of TDs expenses, for example, allows them to steal a good portion of their allotment if they so wish, with no questions asked.

This type of legal corruption is rampant within the political system and throughout the ruling class.

One of the crucial weaknesses of how Ireland is governed is the total absence of any law enforcement authority capable of operating independently of the corrupt political system.

The media, for all its faults and weaknesses, is the only force in the land capable of challenging that corrupt system; it’s the only force that provides any protection for ordinary Irish citizens.

That’s why it’s so disturbing to witness such an ignorant display from such a prominent journalist.

Copy to:

Brendan Keenan

Gay Mitchell joke

Gay Mitchell joke.

The socialist was asked what would he do if he had two yachts.

I’d keep one and give one to the state.

What would you do if you had two farms?

I’d keep one and give one to the state.

What would you do if you had two rolls royce?

I’d keep one and give one to the state.

And what would you do if you had two bikes?

Ah c’mon now, you know I have two bikes.

Joan Collins joins Bertie Ahern on the arsehole of humanity

Joan Collins of People Before Profit – United Left Alliance was the woman who challenged the scumbag Bertie Ahern when he was being interviewed as the last Dail broke up.

People like us getting cuts in our wages and taxes and all that. Have you no shame, you’re on the TV the last two days mouthing out of yourself, you should be ashamed of yourself, shame on you.

Well, Joan Collins, now a TD, was herself ‘mouthing out of herself’ to Pat Kenny recently in defence of her decision to give a job to her partner Dermot

I’ve always been opposed to cronyism and I would have seen it in the relationship between politicians, developers, bankers and that sort of angle…but… Dermot’s ability is second to none, not to have him on the team would be an absolute scandal.

The people of Ireland desperately need their politicians to break with the corrupt political system by acting on principle all the time and not just when it’s safe to do so.

By engaging in the same old nepotism and pathetically trying to defend her actions with the same old dishonest arguments, Collins has betrayed those who hoped she was a force for change.

She has reduced herself to the status of gombeen politician looking out for her own interests, the interests of her friends and family and the interests of her constituents in order to get re-elected.

Ireland and its people as a whole are obviously way down her list of priorities.

Reacting to the spat with Ahern Collins correctly described him as a pimple on the arse of humanity.

By her actions Collins has now joined the scumbag on that arse.

Copy to:
Joan Collins

Would you vote for this man?

Niall O’Dowd is an Irish journalist living in the United States who wants to be the next president of Ireland.

Former Brussels, Belfast and Diplomatic Correspondent of The Irish Times, Walter Ellis, doesn’t think O’Dowd would make a good president and outlines his reasons in today’s Irish Times.

Here are some quotes he attributes to O’Dowd.

On Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Ireland:

Myself, I wouldn’t cross the road to see her, but I think on balance it is a good thing . . . hopefully.

On Prince William:

He’s a member of the luck sperm club.

On Kate Midleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge:

A good stud mare, who would be judged by whether or not she produced young colts to secure the bloodline.

Ellis concludes:

In my view, he is irretrievably a citizen not alone of the US, to which he has, of course, given his pledge of allegiance, but of that mythical and parallel world known to its misty-eyed adherents as Glocca Morra.

I agree.

Greece v Ireland

Yet another ‘expert’, Dan O’Brien, tells us how bad things are in corrupt and dysfunctional Greece.

The background suggestion is that Ireland, while not in the best of shape, is a normal, functional state.

A reader responded to the article.

Let’s repeat that sentence. “IRELAND is a borderline failed state. its society lacks cohesiveness and is deeply divided its economy is in shock.

If the country’s history is any guide to its future, there is serious trouble ahead”…… by the end of this year, 300,000 people will have emigrated and 450,000 people are currently unemployed with youth unemployment hovering around 40%.

There is not a single government worker capable of being paid without the bailout money borrowed at 5.83%. People in glass houses should not throw stones.

It is less than a week since our Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dail that he could do nothing about nepotism at the heart of his government.

Jobs paid for with state funding or borrowing, for which no citizen is allowed to apply? Can that be legal. If it is have we legalised nepotism?

Ireland: Still wallowing in the doldrums of delusion

Health Minister Dr. James Reilly said that the HSE document proposing possible cuts in waiting lists for pregnant women and a cap on vaccination programmes were nothing more than the internal reflections of someone within the HSE.

Asked about the possible closure of smaller hospitals he said:

The reality is that small hospitals have an enormous part to play in the delivery of care for our citizens and they will be supported by this government.

Here’s some of what happened in Latvia as a result of the IMF rescue in 2008/2009.

Half of all hospitals were closed.

There was a 30% cut in public service wages and thousands of public servants were sacked.

Over half of all state agencies were closed over a very short period of time.

This, and worse, is going to happen in Ireland and yet those in power continue to behave as if there’s an alternative, as if they still have the power to make choices.

Latvia, like Iceland, is on the road to recovery. Ireland is still wallowing in the doldrums of delusion.